Edgar Matobato

Last updated
Edgar Matobato
Born
Edgar Bernal Matobato

1959
Nationality Filipino
Occupation(s)Vigilante, Assassin
Military career
Allegiance Davao Death Squad (formerly Lambada Boys)
Years of service1988-2013

Edgar Bernal Matobato (born 1959) is a self-confessed hitman and whistleblower who claims to be a former member of the Davao Death Squad or the "DDS", an alleged vigilante group tasked to summarily execute suspected criminals. He gained international recognition in 2016 when he testified before the Senate of the Philippines, reporting about his experience as a hitman under the DDS. Following a non-bailable warrant for his arrest in 2017, he went into hiding with priests from the Catholic Church to ensure his safety. As of 2025, Matobato remains in hiding following persistent death threats against him.

Contents

Senate hearing

Matobato says that in 2013, he withdrew from the Davao Death Squad . He then surrendered to the Commission on Human Rights in August 21, 2014, and later applied to be part of the Department of Justice's Witness Protection Program (WPP) in September of that year. A few days before Rodrigo Duterte won the 2016 Philippine presidential election, he left the program and went into hiding. [1] Former senator Antonio Trillanes later stated that one of outgoing president Benigno Aquino III's last act as president was to order that Matobato be transferred out of official custody and into a senior member of the Catholic Church. [2] A priest helped Matobato contact then-senator Leila de Lima, a critic of Duterte's drug war, who met up with him in early September 2016. [3]

Matobato appeared before the Philippine Senate Senate Justice Committee on September 15, 2016 during a hearing on extrajudicial killings, having been invited by De Lima who chaired the committee. [1] [4] At the hearing, the 57-year-old assassin narrated his experiences and even revealed names of policemen he worked with in the past. He confessed that he had killed many people, including an alleged terrorist named Sali Makdum. Matobato further recounted that former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte once emptied an Uzi in killing a National Bureau of Investigation official only known as "Amisola", [a] [6] though the President denied ties with Matobato and claimed not knowing him. [7]

Matobato says he was among the names listed under Davao City Hall's Civil Security Unit (CSU), which watched over markets, schools, and terminals to keep them safe, although he was considered a "ghost employee." [8] From 1988 to 2013, Matobato said hundreds were killed in the 25-year span of his service to Davao's CSU. [9] Senator Alan Peter Cayetano questioned Matobato, pointing out how in his testimonies, he changed his stance from "pretending to have personal knowledge" to "hearsay." [10]

Shortly after Matobato's testimony, De Lima was removed from her position as chairwoman of the Senate Justice Committee. The House Justice Committee also began hearings on allegations that De Lima had been receiving payments from drug lords imprisoned at the New Bilibid Prison in exchange for preferential treatment. [4] The hearings led to her imprisonment and court charges filed in 2017, which were all dropped by 2024. [11]

Following the hearing, Matobato was denied Senate protection by then-Senate President Koko Pimentel. [12] Instead, his protection was facilitated by the office of Trillanes. [13] On October 7, 2016, Edgar Matobato was turned over by Trillanes to the Philippine National Police after an arrest warrant was issued against him by a Davao municipal trial court. The warrant stemmed from a failure to appear at his arraignment for a case of illegal possession of firearms, filed in 2014. [14] He was kept at Camp Crame for a week, and was later released after posting a bail of 30,000. Trillanes then continued providing protection for Matobato after his release. [15] He filed murder, kidnapping, and crimes against humanity charges against Duterte and other alleged DDS members in December 2016, through his lawyer, Jude Sabio. [16] He was arrested again on a frustrated murder charge, where he posted a ₱200,000 bail. He went into hiding again in 2017, after the Panabo Regional Trial Court issued a non-bailable warrant for his arrest in connection to the kidnapping of Sali Makdum. [17]

International Criminal Court case

On April 24, 2017, representing Matobato, Sabio filed a 77-page complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Duterte and his subordinates titled “The Situation of Mass Murder in the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte: The Mass Murderer” to its Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. Aside from President Duterte, the complaint included Senators Richard Gordon and Alan Peter Cayetano, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno, PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa, Police Colonels Edilberto Leonardo, Royina Garma, and Sanson Buenaventura, NBI Director Dante A. Gierran, and Solicitor General Jose Calida. [18]

On January 14, 2020, Sabio, accompanied by now-disbarred attorney Larry Gadon, announced that he was withdrawing his complaint at the ICC. Sabio would claim that the withdrawal was due to his refusal to be a part of the politics of Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Leila De Lima, Cong. Gary Alejano, as well as the Liberal Party against President Duterte. The ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda responded that Sabio's withdrawal would not affect the case, since there were 57 other communications to the ICC against Duterte. [19]

Following persistent death threats, [20] in January 2025, Matobato left the Philippines with his wife and two stepchildren using a fake passport, posing as a gardener. He left the country together with two Catholic priests, which negotiated his escape. [21] He has given a deposition to the ICC, which wanted to "secure his statements and testimonies." [20] The Bureau of Immigration began investigating Matobato's escape from the country, and identified the fake name he used during immigration. [22] Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported that Matobato did not have any passport records under his name. [23]

Notes

  1. Also reported as being named "Jamisola". [5]

References

  1. 1 2 INQUIRER.net (16 September 2016). "IN THE KNOW: Edgar Matobato".
  2. Mendoza, John Eric (2025-01-07). "PNoy once saved ex-DDS Matobato's life, says Trillanes". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  3. "Priest helped Matobato contact De Lima". ABS-CBN News. 2016-09-22. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  4. 1 2 Paddock, Richard C.; Villamor, Felipe (2016-09-22). "Professed Hit Man Tempers Claims of Rodrigo Duterte's Role in Philippine Killings". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  5. "Philippines President Duterte 'once killed man with Uzi'". BBC News. 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  6. Ager, Maila (2016-09-15). "Duterte spent 2 Uzi magazines to kill an NBI agent—witness". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  7. Corrales, Nestor (23 September 2016). "Duterte on Matobato: I don't know him".
  8. "Edgar Matobato: Liar or truth-teller?". 27 September 2016. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  9. Holmes, Oliver (2016-09-15). "Philippines president ordered murders and killed official, claims hitman". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  10. Hofilena, Chay (2016-09-27). "Edgar Matobato: Liar or truth-teller?". RAPPLER. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  11. Magramo, Kathleen (2024-06-24). "Philippine court clears fierce Duterte critic of drugs charges after long legal battle and six years of police custody". CNN. Archived from the original on 2024-06-29. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  12. Quismundo, Tarra (2016-09-15). "Pimentel 'evicts' witness Matobato – Trillanes". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  13. Billones, Trishia (2016-09-20). "Where is self-confessed 'DDS' assassin Edgar Matobato?". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 2025-03-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. Alvarez, Kathrina Charmaine (2016-10-07). "Trillanes: PNP custody of Matobato 'temporary'". GMA News Online. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  15. Legaspi, Amita (2016-10-14). "Matobato released after posting P30,000 bail". GMA News Online. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  16. Pasion, Patty (2016-12-09). "Matobato files murder, kidnapping charges vs Duterte". RAPPLER. Archived from the original on 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  17. Gonzalez, Mia (2017-03-28). "Arrest warrant out for Matobato for 2002 kidnapping". RAPPLER. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  18. Romero, Paolo (25 April 2017). "Matobato lawyer files case vs Rody before ICC". Philstar.com. Archived from the original on 17 September 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  19. Buan, Lian (14 January 2020). "Sabio 'drops' ICC communication vs Duterte, but does it matter?". Rappler. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  20. 1 2 Buan, Lian (2025-01-08). "Edgar Matobato 'currently safe' after fleeing Philippines". RAPPLER. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  21. "On the Run, a Hit Man Gives One Last Confession". The New York Times . January 7, 2024. Archived from the original on January 5, 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  22. Galvez, Daphne. "BI discovers name used by Matobato to leave Philippines". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2025-03-13.
  23. Abarca, Charie (2025-01-22). "DFA: Confessed hitman Matobato has no travel documents". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2025-03-13.